Vault door



Aug- 30, 1966 H. J; LINGAL 3,269,339

VAULT DOOR Filed Nov. 26, 1965 7 Sheets-Sheet l Aug. 30, 1966 H. J.LINGAL 3,269,339

VAULT DOOR Filed Nov. 26. 1965 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 N @im MS NQ QW wm Wm NmAug- 30, 1966 H. J. LING/M 3,269,339

VAULT DOOR Filed Nov. 26, 1965 '7 Sheets-Sheet 3 Aug. 30, 1966 H. J.LINGAL 3,269,339

VAULT DOOR Filed Nov. 2e, 1965 fr sheets-sheet 4 H. J. LINGAL.

Aug. 30, 1966 VAULT DOOR '7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed NOV. 26, 1965 wml Aug.30, 1966 H. J. LINGAL 3,269,339

VAULT DOOR Filed Nov. 26, 1965 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 H. J. LINGAL Aug. 30,1966 VAULT DOOR 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed NOV. 26, 1965 United StatesPatent 3,269,339 VAULT DOOR Harry J. Lingal, Hamilton, Ohio, assigner tof lhe Mosler Safe Company, Hamilton, Ohio, a corporation of New YorkFiled Nov. 26, 1965, Ser. No. 509,795 Claims. (Cl. 109-74) Thisapplication is a continuation-inpart of application Serial No. 442,387,filed March 24, 1965 and now abandoned, which is in turn a division ofapplication Serial No. 297,778, tiled July 26, 1963 and now U.S. PatentNo. 3,223,057.

This invention relates to safe vaults and more particularly to a vaulthaving a at floor sill.

Bank vaults have traditionally been equipped with a floor bridge whichserved as a walkway or ramp between the bank floor and the interior ofthe vault. The bridge was required to span the bank oor level and thehigher vault floor level. Variance between the vault floor level and thebank floor resulted from the clearance gap` required between the bottomof the door and the bank floor in order to permit the door to swingopen. However, the gap could not extend beneath the door and into theinterior of the vault without reducing the vaults resistance to attackby explosives. Therefore the interior of the vault has traditionallybeen 1/2" to 11/2I higher than the bank floor level and the vault doorhas had a depending lip which abutted against the door sill with thedoor closed. It precludes explosives or any other device from beinginserted beneath the vault door into the interior of the vault.

Generally, the floor bridges used to provide a ramp between the twolevels have been of two types. The first is a removable plate of sheetsteel which extends between the interior of the vault and the interiorof the bank. The second and newer variety is a pivotal bridge mounted inthe interior of the vault behind the closed door and which folds down soas to extend into the lbank when the door is opened and folds up into avertical position when the door is closed. Both types havedisadvantages. One is that it renders the movement of heavy tellerbuses, coin carts or bullion carts into the vault difficult because theymust be forced up the ramp or oor bridge. Another is that it is a safetyhazard to the bank customers. Oftentimes they are awed by themassiveness of the vault so that they gawk at the surroundings ratherthan wat-ch their step upon entering the vault. As a consequence, a rampor even a slight step is a hazard.

It has been an objective of this invention to provide a completely flatbank vault entrance with no difference in levels between the interiorfof the bank yand the interior of the vault. This `construction has theadvantage of eliminating any safety hazard and facilitating the movementof carts, tellers buses, and other objects into and out of the vault.

More specifically, it has been an objective of this invention to providea flat floor sill vault door which has the same degree of security asthe conventional varied iloor level vault door. To this end thisinvention incorporates a movable Hoor sill plate which when the vaultdoor is open has a top surface at the same level as that of the bank andvault floor and when the vault door is closed moves upwardly into arecess in the vault door. When in the upward position, the floor sillplate occupies or fills the gap which would lotherwise occur between thebottom of the vault door and the floor sill.

Sti-ll another objective of this invention has been 4to provide anautomatically actuated movable oor sill plate movable into its upwardposition or door locked posiice tion upon closing of the vault door andautomatically lowered to its floor level position upon opening of thedoor.

Still another objective of this invention has been to provide a movablefloor sill plate mounted in the sill of a vault doorway which may beused -in conjunction with a conventional vault door of the typeA havingthe locking mechanism mounted directly upon the door.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will be moreapparent from the following description of the drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a vault incorporating this inventionwith the door in an opened position,

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic perspective view of the sill and its relatedmechanical components,

FIGURE 3 is a cross sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE"l 4 is a cross sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIGURE 1With the door in the closed position,

FIGURE 5 is a cross sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIGURE 3,

FIGURE 6 is `a view similar to FIGURE 5 but showing the vault doorclosed,

FIGURE 7 is a cross sectional view taken along line 7-7 of FIGURE 3,

FIGURE 8 is a partially diagrammatic cross sectional view of anothermodification of a vault door which incorporates a hydraulic actuatorsystem for lowering and raising the vault door in response to openingand closing of the door,

FIGURE 9 is a partially diagrammatic illustration of the hydraulicsystem of FIGURE 8,

FIGURE 10 is a diagrammatic illustration of a pneumatic system operableto raise and lower avault floor sill plate in response to closing andopening of a vault door,

FIGURE 11 is a diagrammatic illustration of an electrical systemoperable to raise and lower a vault Hoor sill plate in response toclosing and opening of a vault door,

FIGURE 12 is a diagrammatic illustration of a magnetic system yoperableto raise and lower a vault floor sill plate in response to closing andopening of the vault door.

Referring to FIGURE 1, it w11 be seen that a vault door 10 is mountedwithin a door frame 11 for pivotal movement about hinges 13. The door 10fis generally a conventional vault door having the locking mechanismincluding the lock bars 14 mounted upon the back of the door. It differsfrom a conventional vault only in that it includes a recess 15 acrossthe bottom which extends the full width ofthe door.

A movable floor sill plate 25 is mounted beneath the door when it isclosed and extends upwardly into ya recess 15 in the bottom of the door.It is automatically lowered when the door is opened so thatrthe topsurface 27 is at the same level as that of the bank oor 28 and the vaultoor 29 when the door is opened.

The frame The door frame 11 is rectangular in shape. Covering the frame11 is `an architrave 30 Awhi-ch is located on both sides and over thetop of the door. It is surrounded by architrave trim plates 31, 32, and33. For purposes of appearance, the trim plates, the architrave and thedoor are all covered with decorative steel.

Forming a part of the door frame at the floor level is ya bar 34 setinto the bank floor with its top surface 35 in the horizontal plane ofthe bank lioor. At the bottom, bar 34 is Welded to a bed plate 36 whichserves to prevent attack of the vault by digging under the door.

The trim plates 31, 32 and 33 overlap the exterior vault wall 38 attheir outer edges as shown in FIGURES 1 and 4. The inner edges overlapand are `attached to architrave plates 30 which in turn are attached tosteel e: plates extending inwardly int-o the vault. The inwardlyextending plate 40 attached to the upper plate 30 is inclineddown-wardly and inwardly so as to provide an inclined surface 41 againstwhich an upper inclined s-urface 42 of `the door abuts. At its lowerouter edge the plate 40 is recessed as shown at 43 to provide a seat foran upwardly extending lip 44 yon the door. The rear surface Iof theplate 40 is welded to a reinforcing bracket 45 which in turn is securedto a U-shaped channel 46 which extends across Athe door between thevertical sections of the frame.

The vertical trim plate 32 on the hinge side of the door is secured tothe architrave 30 which is attached to the door frame. The inner edge ofthe architrave 30 is welded to the door jamb 47 which extends betweenthe upper trim plate 33 and lower frame bar 34. The front surface of thedoor jamb 47 is located in the plane of the front surface of the frame.A section of the frame overlaps approximately one half of the frontsurface of the jamb member 47 so as to define a recess 49 for thereception of a vertically extending lip on the inside of the door.

The inside surface of the jamb 47 extend inwardly and rearwardly todefine an inclined surface 50 against which the hinge side surface 51 ofthe door abuts. At the rear the door jam'b 47 is wel-ded to a box shapedvestibule frame section 55, the inside edge plate 56 of which denes aportion of the doorway when the vault door 10 is opened. The othervertical trim plate 31 on the opposite side of the door is secured tothe architrave 30 in the same manner as side trim plate 32.

As may be seen in FIGURES 1 and 3, an inner security door 57 or day gateis mounted between the side plates 56 inside the door 10. The securitydoor 57 is mounted upon hinges (not shown.)

Floor sill mechanism In order to provide a flat walking surface betweenthe inside of the bank and the interior of the vault while stillretaining some means for closing the gap between the bottom of the vaultdoor 10 and the floor still, a portion of the door oor still is movablebetween the two positions shown in FIGURES and 6. To this end, the doorsill plate 25 is movable into the recess 15 of the door when it isclosed. Upon opening of the door the sill automatically retreats into aposition in which its upper surface 27 is located in the horizontalplane of the interior of the bank floor 28 and the interior of the vault29.

When the door is open, the door sill surface is defined by the topsurface 35 of the plate 34, the top surface 27 of the floor sill plate25, a top surface 60 of a mounting plate 61 and a top surface 62 of afloor plate 63. The top surface of all of these members extends acrossthe complete width of the doorway. If desired, a thin rubber floor matmay be provided over the top of the floor sill plate 25.

The mechanism for automatically moving the oor sill plate 25 upwardlyinto the door when it is closed and for lowering it to oor level whenthe door is open is contained within a housing 65 recessed in the Ib-ankoor below the door. The housing is defined by the vertical plate 34, ahorizontal base plate 36, a horizontal plate 66, a vertical plate 67 andthe floor plate 63. This housing structure thus defines a generallyrectangular cavity within which is mounted the oor sill mechanism.

The vertical plate 34 is welded to the bed plate 36 with a reinforcingblock 68 welded in the inside corner between these -two members to giveadded attack resistance .to the floor structure. A `floor sill seatingnotch 69 is machined out of the upper inside edge of the vervtical plate34 so as to provide a horizontal seating surso as to provide a seatingsurface 73 for the leading edge -of the plate 66. The inside end of theplate 66 rests upon a oor plate 74 (FIGURE 4) .to which the plate 66 iswelded. Welded to the top surface of the plate 6-6 is the vertical platey67 on the top surface of which is mounted the inside edge portion ofthe floor plate 63. The forward edge of the floor plate 63 is seatedwithin a recess 75 in the top surface of the vertical plate 61 which iswelded a-t its bottom to the bed plate 36.

With the door open, the sill plate 25 extends between the notch 70 inthe Vertical plate 34 and a similar sill pla-te seating notch 76 alongthe upper forward edge of the vertical plate 61. A pair of spaceddepending U- shaped supporting brackets 80, 81 are bolted to the bottomof sill plate 25 by -bolt 82. The depending brackets 80, 81 each serveas a mounting bracket for a horizontal pivot shaft 83. The end of eachshaft 83 extends through the mounting plates 80, 81 and through anelongated aperture 84 in one end of a rocker arm 85.

Each rocker arm 85 is pivotally mounted near its center upon a rockershaft 86. The ends of each rocker shaft 86 are journalle-d withinupstanding legs 87 of a U-shaped mounting bracket 88, the web 89` ofwhich rests upon the bed plate 36 and is secured lt-hereto by a pair ofbolts 90. Thus the rocker arms 85 are free f-or limited rotationalmovement about the rocker shafts 86. When the rocker arms 85 are rotatedin the countercl-ockwise direction as viewed in FIGURES 5 and 6, thefloor sill is lowered and when rotated in the clockwise direction thefloor sill is raised. Since the ver-tical plate 6,1 is located betweenthe ends of the rocker arms 85, vertical channels or recesses 92 areprovided in the plate through which the rocker arms extend.

Referring to FIGURES 3 and 7, it will be seen that 4the floor sill plate25 is guided during vertical movement by a pair of guide assemblies 95located adjacent the sides of the door sill. Each of these assembliesconsists of a depending guide rod 96 secured to a pad 97 by a washer 98and bolt 99. Pad 97 is aixed to the underside of plate 25 by bolts orwelds, not shown. Each of 4the rods 96 extends through a bushing 1100mounted within an inverted U-shaped bracket 101 secured to the baseplate 36 by a pair of bolts 102 and locating pins 103.

The rear end of each of the rocker arms 8S is bolted to an upstandingbracket 106 of an -operating arm assembly 107. The brackets 106 arelL-shaped in cross section and have a block 108 welded between the legsof the bracket adjacent their lower ends. Each rocker arm 85 has a cutout section 109 in its upper edge which lits over the block. The rocker.arms are secured t-o the brackets 106 by a bol-t 110 threaded int-o anaperture 111 in the bottom of the block 108.

At the upper end of each bracket 106, an adjustable arm is securedwithin the elbow of the L-shaped bracket 106 and extends forwardly fromit. Each is secured to its respective bracket by a pair of bolts 116 anda rearwardly extending stud 117 over which is threaded a nut 118. Thebolts .116 pass through slots in the arm and are threaded into thebrackets 106 so as to permit adjustment of the arms by the nuts 118.

On the forward end of each arm is mounted a door engaging roller 120rotatably jo-urnalled upon a pin 121 sec-ured to the arm by a lockingpin 122. When the vault door 10 is closed, a rear surface 123 abutsagainst the rollers during approximately its last half inch of movementand forces the operating -arm assemblies 107 rearwardly causing therocker arms 85 to pivot about the rocker arm shafts 86 so as to move thesill plate 25 upwardly into the recess 15 in the bottom of the door 10.Upon opening of the door, the rear surface 123 disengages the rollers120 permitting the sill plate 25 to drop down under its own weight ontothe seats 70 and 76 in the vertical plates 34 and 161. Thus the topsurface of the sill -plate 25 is located in the plane of the vault floor29 and bank iloor 28 when the door is open and is raised into the gapbetween the bottom of the door and the sill when the door is closed.

Referring now to FIGURES 8l2 there are illustrated other alternativesand equi-valent modifications of door -actuators for raising the sillplate in response to closing of the vault door and for lowering the sillplate in response to opening of the door. While in each instance theactuators have been illustrated as being responsive to open-ing andclosing of the vault door, they could as well be responsive to anincident of closing, such as locking and unlocking of the door, in themanner of the vault door illustrated and claimed in application SerialNo. 297,778.

Referring first to FIGURES 8 and 9, there is illustrated a Vault doorhaving a hydraulic actuator for raising and lowering the floor sillplate in response to closing and opening of the door. The onlydifference between this modification and that illustrated in FIGURES 1-7resides in the sill plate actuator, and therefore identical numeralshave been applied to identical elements of the door and frame followedby the sufiix a.

The sill plate 25a of this embodiment is mounted for vertical movementin the same fashion as the sill plate 25 in FIGURES l-7. It is actuatedhowever by a Sylphon bellows 201 of a closed hydraulic circuit 202 whichincludes a second door operated Sylphon bellows 203. The connectionbetween the two bellows is such that one -must be compressed in orderfor the other to expand, and vice versa.

As may be seen in FIGURE 9, the second bellows 203 is attached to thedoor sill frame member 47a by a generally Z-shaped bracket 204.Compression of the bellows 203 is controlled by a connector rod 205 oneend of which is connected to the free end of the bellows 203 and theopposite end of which is connected by a pivot pin 206 to a doorengageable bell crank 207. The bell crank 207 is mounted on a pivot pin208 for movement from the door closed position of FIGURE 9 to a seconddoor open position in which a portion of tthe crank extends into thedoorway.

In operation, opening of the door, as indicated by the arrow 210,permits pivotal movement of the bell crank into the open doorway. As thedoor opens, the weight of the sill plate 25a compresses `the bellows 201and lforces fluid through the hydraulic circuit and a metering valve 209into the bellows 203. Since the door is open, the bellows 203 is free toexpand from the compressed condition of FIGURE 9 and move the bell crank206 into the `open doorway. When the door is closed, the edge 211 of thedoor Contacts the bell crank 207 causing it to pivot inwardly into theposition illustrated in FIGURE 9. As a consequence, the bellows 203 iscompressed so that fluid is forced through the metering valve 209 andhydraulic circuit 202 back into the bellows 201. As fluid is forced intothe bellows, it expands and -moves the sill plate 25a upwardly into thedoor closed position of FIG- URE 8 in which the sill plate 25a resideswithin the recess a in the bottom of the door 10a.

One advantage of this particular modification is that it results in adeceleration of the door immediately prior to sealing of the door withinthe door frame. This occurs as a result of the door striking the bellcrank 207 and forcing the liuid from the bellows 203 through themetering valve 209. The degree of deceleration may be adjusted bychanging the setting of the metering `valve 209.

Referring now to FIGURE 10, there is illustrated a pneumatic actuatorsystem for raising and lowering the sill plate in response to closingand opening of the vault door. In this embodiment, the vault door isidentical to the door of FIGURES l-7 except for the different actuatorfor raising and lowering the sill plate, and therefore ident-icalelements have been given identical numerals followed by the suffix b.

In this modification, movement of the sill plate b is controlled by atoggle linkage 301, 303, the upper link 301 of which is pivotallyattached at one end to a depending lug 302 on the bottom of the sillplate 25b. The other end of the link 301 is pivotally connected by apivot pin 305 to the upper end of the second link 303. The link 303 inturn has its lower end pivotally connected to a lug 304 welded orotherwise secured to the top surface of the bed plate 36]?. The pivotpin 305 which interconnects the toggle links 301 and 303 is alsopivotally connected to a piston rod 306 of `a pneumatic motor 307. Themotor 307 includes a cylinder 308 having an inlet port 309 on one sideof a piston 310 and an outlet port 311 on the opposite side. The inletport 309 is connected by an air line or conduit 313 to a Sylphon bellows314. This bellows 314 is normally spring biased to extended position andis compressed, as shown in FIGURE 10, by engagement of the rear side123b of the door with the free end of the bellows. The opposite end ofthe bellows is secured to a bracket 315 which is welded or otherwisesecured to the fioor plate 29h.

In operation, opening of the door 10b permits the spring biased bellows314 to expand. Expansion of the bellows 314 results in air being drawnthrough the port 309 from the cylinder of motor 307 into the bellows.Simultaneously, air at atmospheric pressure is admitted to the cylinderthrough port 311. When this occurs, the piston 310 moves to the left asviewed in FIGURE l0 causing the toggle linkage 301, 303 to move overcenter and lower the sill plate until it seats upon the support elements34b and 61b. When the door 10b is closed, the rear side 123b of the doorabuts against and compresses the bellows 314. This results in air beingforced lfrom the bellows through the conduit 313 into the cylinder ofmotor 307 so as to effect movement of the piston 310 to the right asviewed in FIGURE l0. As the piston 310 moves to the right, it causes thetoggle linkage 301, 303 to move into the position of FIGURE l0 so as tolift the sill plate 25b upwardly into the recess 15b in the bottom ofthe vault door 10b.

Referring now to FIGURE l1, there is illustrated an electrical actuatorsystem for raising and lowering the sill plate of t-he door in responseto opening and closing of the door. In this modification, the door isidentical to that illustrated in FIGURES l-7 except that it incorporatesthe electrical actuator mechanism rather than the purely mechanical oneof FIGURES 1-7. Therefore, identical portions of the door have beengiven identical numerals followed by the suffix c in this modification.

Attached to the bottom of the sill plate 25C of this modification is anactuating rod 401 slidable within a guide bushing 402 of the bed plate36C. The lower end of the rod 401 is pivotally connected to one end of alinkage element 403, the other end of which is pivotally connected by aneccentric pivot pin 404 secured to a worm wheel 405. Rotation of theworm wheel 405 is controlled by a worm screw 406 attached to the outputshaft 407 of a reversible electric motor 408. The direction of motorrotation is controlled by a pair of switches 410 and 411 located beneaththe sill plate 25e and a pair of switches 412, 413 located behind thevaul-t door 10c. The actuator 414 of switches 412 and 413 is controlledby engagement with the rear surface 123C of the vault door. Thisactuator 414 is normally spring biased by a spring 424 to an extendedposition in which the switch 413 is closed and switch 412 is open.Closing of the door 10c` results in opening of the switch 413 andclosing of the switch 412.

Switches 410 and 411 both include a wiper arm 415, 416 respectively,connected to the bottom of the sill plate 25C. Both of the wiper arms415, 416 are insulated from the sill pla-te by a section of insulativematerial 418. The contacts 420, 421 with which the wiper arm 415 isengageablel are so positioned that the wiper effects a closed circuitthrough the contacts when the sill is in the raised position illustratedin FIGURE 11. In -this position of the sill plate, the wiper 416 formsan open switch with the contacts 422, 423 of switch 411.

In operation, opening of the vault door 10c results in the actuator arm414 of switches 412, 413 being moved to an extended position by actuatorarm spring 424. This movement closes the switch 413 and opens the switch412. With the switch 413 closed, a circuit is completed from a positiveterminal of a battery 425 through a lead 426, switch 413, lead 427,switch 410, through the motor 408, and to ground. This circuit causesthe motor 408 to be driven in a direction to effect llowering of ythesill plate 25C as a result of rotational movement of the worm wheel 425and its connected eccentric4 pin 404. Immediately prior to the seatingof the bottom of the sill plate 25e on the seats 70C, 76C, the switch410 opens as a result of the wiper 415 disengaging the contacts 420,421. The sill plate thus remains in this lower position until the vaultdoor is closed. Closing of the door 10c results in closing of the switch412 so that a circuit is completed.

to t-he motor 408 from the battery 425, via lead 426, through switch412, via lead 430, through switch 411, lead 431, andthrough the motor408 to ground. This results in rotational movement of the worm wheel 408in a direction opposite that which lowered the sill plate 25C so thatthe sill is moved upwardly until the wiper 416 of switch 411 disengagesthe contacts 422, 423. When this occurs, rotation of the motor stopswith the sill plate in its raised position in which its upper portion islocated within the door recess C.

While the motor 408 has been described as a reversible motor, it ismanifest that a unidirectional motor could be utilized if `theeccentricity of the pin 404 is selected to be half the vertical movementof the sill plate o such that the worm wheel moves through exactly 180in lowering the sill plate. If this condition were effected, continuedmovement of the worm wheel in the same direc- -tion through another 180would result in returning the worm wheel and its connected link to itsoriginal position to raise the sill plate into the door recess 15e.

Referring now to FIGURE 12, there is illustrated still another actuatorsystem for raising and lowering the sill plate in response to closingand opening of the vault door. In this embodiment, the only differencefrom t-hose heretofore described resides in the sill plate actuator, andtherefore identical portions of the vault door have been given identicalnumerals followed by the suffix d.

In this modification, a permanent magnet is relied upon to effectvertical movement of the sill plate 25d into and out of the recess 15din the bottom of the vault door 10d. T o this end, the sill plate 25d isformed from a permanently magnetized steel bar which is magneticallyattracted to the steel door 10d when the door is closed.

In this modification of the door, the recess 15d is deeper at the frontof the door than at the back so that it slopes downwardly yfrom front torear. The seats 505, 506 in the sill plate support blocks 34d and 61dare defined by nonmagnetic inserts 501 and 502 fitted into and securedwithin the upper corners of the support blocks. These inserts may -bemade from any non-magnetic material such as a high impact polystyrene.

Preferably a spring 503 is fitted between the top surface of thereinforcing block 68d and t-he bottom of the sill plate 15d so as toeffectively form a counterbalance helpful to overcome lifting the weightof the sill 25d. The spring may or may not be necessary depending uponthe weight of the sill plate 15d and the magnetic properties of the doorand sill plate.

In operation, opening of the vault door 10d causes the sill plate 25d,which is secured against forward movement by the vertical surface 504 ofthe insert 501, to be wiped or forced from the bottom of the door as thedownwardly sloping surface on the bottom of the door forces the sillplate to drop downwardly. The strength of the spring 503 is selected tobe less than that required to support the weight of the sill plate 25dso that the plate rests upon the seating surfaces 505, 506 of theinserts 501, 502 Iespectively, when the door is open. When resting uponthese surfaces, the top surface of the sill plate is located in lthesame horizontal plane as the bank and vault doors.

As the vault door 10d is closed, the magnetic attraction of thepermanently magnetized sill plate 25d causes the plate to move upwardlyto engage the bottom surface of the recess 15d in the bottom of thedoor. The sill plate 25d is then held in this position as long as thedoor rcmains closed.

While several different embodiments of door actuators have beendisclosed and described herein, it will readily be appreciated by thoseskilled in this art that they are all structural and functionalequivalents for purposes of this invention. While in each embodiment,the actuator has been disclosed as being responsive to opening andclosing of t-he door, it is manifest that the actuators could with equalfacility be operable in response to an incident of opening and closingthe door such as actuation of the vault door locking mechanism as in thecase of the door described and claimed in the application from whichthis application was originally divided.

While several different embodiments of my invention have been describedand disclosed herein, those skilled in the art to which this inventionpertains will readily appreciate numerous changes and modificationswhich may be made wit-hout departing from the spirit of this invention.Therefore l do not intend to be limited except by the scope of theappended claims.

Having described -my invention, I claim: 1. A walk-in Vault comprising,a door frame, a vault having a floor located behind said frame, a pairof hinges mounted on one side of said frame, a door mounted upon saidhinges, said `door having a bottom recess therein, a movable floor sillplate mounted beneath said door, said plate having a top surface locatedin substantially the same horizontal plane when the door is open as thatof the vault fioor and the floor of the building within which the vaultis adapted to be installed,

means operable automatically in response to closing of said door to movea portion of said sill plate including said top surface upwardly intosaid door recess, whereby said top surface resides within said recess,and operable automatically in response to opening sa-id door to lowersaid plate until said top surface is located in substantially the samehorizontal plane as said vault floorand the floor of said building.

2. The walk-in Vault of claim 1 wherein said sill plate moving meansincludes a door engageable actuator element and a mechanical linkagesystem interconnecting sa-id actuator element and said sill plate.

3. The walk-in vault of claim 1 wherein said sill plate moving meansincludes hydraulic motor means for raising and lowering said sill plate.

4. The walk-in vault of claim 1 wherein said sill plate moving meansincludes pneumatic motor means for raising and lowering said sill plate.

5. The walk-in vault of claim 1 wherein said sill plate moving meansincludes an electrical motor and associated control circuitry forraising and lowering said sill plate.

6. The walk-in vault of claim 1 wherein said sill plate moving meansincludes at least one magnetic element operable to effect upwardmovement of said sill plate.

7. A walk-in vault comprising,

a door frame,

a vault having a floor located behind said frame,

a pair of hinges mounted on one side of said frame,

a door having front and rear surfaces mounted upon said hinges,

said door having a bottom recess therein,

la movable floor sill plate mounted beneath said door,

said plate having a top surface located in substantially the samehorizontal plane as that of the vault floor when the door is open,

a oor sill plate actuating arm mounted beneath said sill plate andconnected at one end to the bottom of said plate, and

`means operatively connected to said arm operable to move a portionincluding said top surface of said sill plate upwardly into said doorrecess upon closing of said door, said means being engageable with therear surface of the door upon closing of the door.

8. A walk-in vault comprising,

a door frame,

a vault having a floor located behind said frame,

a pair of hinges mounted on one side of said frame,

a door having front and rear surfaces mounted upon said hinges,

said door having a bottom recess therein,

`a movable floor sill plate mounted beneath said door,

said plate having a top surface located in substantially the samehorizontal plane as that of the vault floor when the door is open,

a pivotally mounted floor sill plate actuating arm mounted beneath saidsill plate and connected at one end to the bottom of said plate, and

means connected to the opposite end of said arm operable to move laportion including said top surface of said sill plate upwardly into saiddoor recess upon closing of said door, said means being engageable withthe rear surface of the door upon closing of the door.

9. A walk-in vault comprising,

a vault having a floor located behind said frame,

a pair of hinges mounted on one side of said frame,

a door having front and rear surfaces mounted upon said hinges,

said door having a bottom recess therein,

a movable floor sill plate mounted beneath said door,

said plate having Ia top surface located in substantially l 0 the samehorizontal plane when the door is open as that of the vault door,

a pivotally mounted floor sill plate actuating arm mounted beneath saidplate and having one end connected to the bottom of said plate, and

door engaging means connected to the opposite end of said arm andoperable in response to closing of said door to move a portion of saidsi-ll plate including said top surface upwardly into said door recess,said door engaging means being engageable with said rear surface of saiddoor.

10. A walk-in vault comprising,

a door frame,

a vault having a floor located behind said frame,

a pair of hinges mounted on one side of said frame,

a door having front and rear surfaces mounted upon said hinges,

said door having a bottom recess therein,

a movable floor sill plate mounted beneath said door,

said plate having a top surface located in substantially the samehorizontal plane when the door is open as that of the vault iloor,

a pivotally mounted floor sill plate actuating arm mounted beneath saidplate and having one end connected to the bottom of said plate,

a support having a portion extending above said sill plate connected tothe opposite end of said arm, and

a roller mounted on said support and engageable with said rear surfaceof said door so that upon closing of said door and engagement of saiddoor with said roller, said sill plate is forced upwardly until aportion including the top surface of said plate extends into said doorrecess.

No references cited.

REINALDO P. MACHADO, Primary Examiner.

1. A WALK-ING VAULT COMPRISING, A DOOR FRAME, A VAULT HAVING A FLOORLOCATED BEHIND SAID FRAME, A PAIR OF HINGES MOUNTED ON ONE SIDE OF SAIDFRAME, A DOOR MOUNTED UPON SAID HINGES, SAID DOOR HAVING A BOTTOM RECESSTHEREIN, A MOVABLE FLOOR SILL PLATE MOUNTED BENEATH SAID DOOR, SAIDPLATE HAVING A TOP SURFACE LOCATED IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME HORIZONTALPLANE WHEN THE DOOR IS OPEN AS THAT OF THE VAULT FLOOR AND THE DOOR OFTHE BUILDING WITHIN WHICH THE VAULT IS ADAPTED TO BE INSTALLED, MEANSOPERABLE AUTOMATICALLY IN RESPONSE TO CLOSING OF SAID DOOR TO MOVE APORTION OF SAID SILL PLATE INCLUDING SAID TOP SURFACE UPWARDLY INTO SAIDDOOR RECESS, WHEREBY SAID TOP SURFACE RESIDES WITHIN SAID RECESS,